Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2009
Perceptions and attitudes of rehabilitation medicine physicians on complementary and alternative medicine in Australia.
The growing demand for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is undeniable. We report a first study about the attitudes and behaviour of Australian rehabilitation physicians to CAM. ⋯ Australian rehabilitation physicians report similar CAM referral rates to Canadian physiatrists and Australian general practitioners. The most commonly prescribed therapies were acupuncture, yoga and Tai-Chi. Almost all patients use CAM therapies, but only a minority of rehabilitation physicians enquires about CAM use on a regular basis. The latter may avoid potentially harmful drug interactions, as well as improve the quality of the physician-patient relationship.